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In the United Kingdom, the International AdultLiteracy Survey (IALS) findings published inthe 1990s indicated that up to 20 per cent of theadult population had low levels of functionalliteracy, leading first to the Moser Report(1999) and then to the national Skills for Lifestrategy (2002-7). The Leitch Report (2006)has emphasised that the UK economy will forthe next 30 to 40 years depend largely onemployees already in the workforce today.Many of these employees (approximately one-quarter) have relatively few, or even no, formalqualifications.

In a review of international literature on theimpact of workplace basic skills training asmeasured by their effects on wages andemployment probability, Ananiadou, Jenkinsand Wolf (2003) draw out the conclusions thatpoor literacy and numeracy skills reduce earn-ings and the likelihood of being in employ-ment, even when individuals have good formalqualifications. Between the ages of 23 and 37,almost two-thirds of men in the UK and threequarters of women with very low literacy skillshad never been promoted, compared to lessthan one-third of men and two-fifths of women

with good literacy skills. For women the ratiodrops, but is still very significant. There weresmaller but still very significant differenceswith respect to numeracy skills. In addition,these UK researchers state that “there is alsogood evidence to suggest that general trainingprovided at the workplace has a positive impacton individuals’ wages, particularly when thistraining is employer provided rather than offthe job” (p. 289) although there is little robustevidence available about the specific effects onwages of workplace basic skills training. Theaccumulated evidence does, however, indicatethat training provided at and through the work-place can play a significant role in increasinglevels of workforce skills.

The specific contributions of informal learningare rarely addressed in large scale evaluations ofworkplace training but are nevertheless held tobe significant by many workplace researchers.As Billet (2002) points out the more worksiteactivities a worker can access and engage with,the more learning that may result. Nevertheless,these learning opportunities are not distributedequally across a particular organization; thoseindividuals confined to routine work, and whose

Adult Workers’ Engagement in Formal and Informal Learning 1

Adult Workers’ Engagement in Formal and Informal Learning:

Insights into Workplace Basic Skills from Four UK Organisations

Karen Evans and Edmund WaiteInstitute of Education, University of London

roles may be less valued may have fewerchances to expand their learning. Evans et al.(2006) have focused particularly on this inrelation to basic level employees. For basicworkers, the relationship between formal‘essential skills’ courses and their spin-offs ininformal learning will depend crucially onorganizational environments and the extent ofdistribution of opportunities for informal learn-ing. The tacit dimensions of knowledge andskill are also germane to the exploration ofinformal-formal learning relationships.

Evans, Kersh and Kontiainen (2004) describedthe tacit forms of personal competences in thetraining and work re-entry of adults with inter-rupted occupational biographies. The authorsidentified the significance of the recognitionand development of informal learning for basiclevel employees. This previous researchshowed how aspects of employees’ individualbiographies as well as their prior experiencesplay an important part in the ways in whichemployees engage with activities and workcolleagues, and learn through their workplaceenvironments. Case analysis showed howadults’ learning processes are negativelyaffected where recognition and deployment oftheir tacit skills, and knowledge by managersand supervisors is low. Conversely, positivedeployment and recognition of capabilitiesgained through informal learning in and out ofpaid work sustains learning and contributes topositive learning outcomes. The developmentof awareness of employees’ hidden abilitiesand tacit skills has to begin with the employeesthemselves.

Modeling of individual and group learningprocesses can provide insights into adults’

experiences by making the part played by tacitskills, often gained through informal learning,visible. Tutors and supervisors in college-based and workplace programmes could use arange of methods to make employees’ tacitskills more explicit: teamwork, one-to-onetutorial help, giving new tasks and responsibil-ities. Individual approaches are needed indesigning methods, taking into account experi-ence, background and disposition, as well aslearning environments and cultures. Workers’motivation and confidence could be facilitatedby such factors as employers’ support andskills recognition as well as various elementsof the workplace environment such as opportu-nities for career development or additional on-the-job training. Learning opportunities weremore likely to be effective when they respon-sive to the micro-conditions of specific work.

The cases presented in this report are drawnfrom a larger longitudinal study aiming todevelop a theoretically informed and evidencebased analysis of both immediate and longer-term outcomes of workplace-linked interven-tions designed to improve adult basic skills. Inthis study 564 employees have been inter-viewed and tracked. Data sources haveincluded structured and in-depth employeequestionnaires administered at fixed pointsbetween 2003 and 2008, manager and tutorinterviews; literacy assessments; completion ofthe Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory(ELLI) and organisational field notes. Theresearch is asking about what happens to theemployees that may be related to their learningexperiences, and what happens in the companythat may be related to the existence of thelearning program. Of 10 workplace sites stud-ied in-depth, four were selected for the purpose


of Anglo-Canadian comparisons, involving 42employees, and six supervisors/tutors.

The four types of workplace basic skillsprograms were chosen in the North and Southof England from the transportation, cleaningand maintenance, administrative (research) andfood processing sectors. These have typicallyprovided a standard, initial 30 hours of instruc-tion in or near the actual work-site; havefocused predominantly on literacy, are oftenbuilt around the use of computers and useteaching material that is generalist rather thandirectly related to occupations. Participants aregenerally full-time employees, with an averageage in the mid-forties and approximately 60%are male. In the UK, this database is part of theEconomic and Social Research Council’sTeaching and Learning Research Program andthe National Research and DevelopmentCentre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy.

A case-study of Coopers

Coopers is a large food manufacturer in thenorth-east of England, employing 460 corestaff and 120 agency staff, that has gainednational acclaim in the past for developing arange of formal learning opportunities.

The first learning centre was set up in 2001within the main factory, on the initiative ofsenior management. Initially consisting of asmall room with five computers, the learningcentre became a LearnDirect centre in 2002,and then moved to a large purpose-built build-ing in 2004. The company pays the salary of afull-time tutor and assistant and provided the

funds for the new building, whilst LearnDirectfinances the computers and resources. Themain room in the learning centre is nowequipped with 15 desk-top computers and aninteractive class whiteboard. There are threeother meeting rooms, one of which is equippedwith video-conferencing facilities and plasmaTVs. In the main hall, various cabinets show-case awards: National Example of Excellence:Business in the community skills for life award2004; The Reg Vardy “work-based learningaward” and National Training Awards: Highlycommended. There are also stands displayingLearnDirect and Skills for Life leaflets. Thecorridors are decorated by computer graphicimages of the production process in thecompany, designed by learners at the centre.

The centre is also open to the local community.Its location next to the perimeter fence of thecompany with a door leading directly out to thestreet is indicative of efforts to create a learningenvironment that is accessible to the localcommunity. In addition to computer and skillsfor life courses and job-specific training, thecentre also offers courses such as flower-arrang-ing which have been very important in attractingindividuals from the company and communityat large. These courses, which are happy andwell attended events (as observed on visits to thelearning centre in November 2004 andJune 2005) are also used as a “hook” by the tutorto attract individuals to Skills for Life courses.

The tutor is fully aware of the challenges ofenlisting individuals on literacy and numeracycourses:

“I’ve been here since August 2003 and Iknew that I couldn’t just go out on to the


factory floor and say do you want to comein and learn how to read and write? I meanno one would ever dream of doing that so Ihad to be quite clever and put on activitiesthat weren’t related at all to reading andwriting just to build relationships to getpeople into the centre.”

Computer courses are an important means ofovercoming learner barriers to developing theirliteracy and numeracy:

“A lot of the IT courses are based aroundliteracy and numeracy but the learner does-n’t realise till the end, they think they’relearning spreadsheets or they think they’relearning word processing but actuallythere’s a lot of grammar, there’s a lot ofliteracy and numeracy going through that.”

As of May 2005, 300 employees of Coopershave undertaken courses at the learning center.All learning takes place in the employees owntime. According to the HR manager, “theemployees see the learning centre as theirown” and the centre has had a positive effect inboosting morale; “it helps create that feel goodfactor”.

The company’s reliance on the use of so-called“huddles” in which employees gather to sharetheir working experiences, listen to companyupdates and opportunities for training provide arange of formal and informal learning opportu-nities. Such events allow the management todisseminate formal learning opportunities inthe form of participation in courses at the learn-ing centre, and facilitate the pooling of collec-tive experiences to enhance performance atwork. Two of the five conceptual categories of

informal learning highlighted by Taylor, Evansand Mohamed (forthcoming) are particularlyevident in these meetings: “Observing fromknowledgeables” and “Focused WorkplaceDiscussions”. Such meetings allow employeesto enhance their working practices through re-examining their routine workplace meetingsthrough observations. Such sessions allow forthe critical questioning and exchange of work-ing practices rather than merely providing thetop-down dissemination of company policy andtherefore represent important sites for focusedworkplace discussions.

According to the Human Resources manager,literacy and numeracy skills deficits can under-mine the potential for employees to takeadvantage of the range of formal and informallearning opportunities presented by thesemeetings:

“when we’ve done huddles, we’ve donevarious activities on site, there’s peopleyou’ll find won’t participate in it, and thereason they do that is because… they’re notvery good at reading and writing, some ofthe arithmetic, numeracy skills are lackingso this has helped bring some of thempeople on (the course).”

The company encourages General Operators inparticular to undertake task activities toenhance their work and develop greater insightinto the working of the company as a whole.For example, one General Operator revealedthat she had recently taken part in a “learningmap” game in which employees found outmore about the overall working of thecompany through participation in a boardgame. Tracy Beaumont, a “Quality Assessor”


described how her fears over her literacy skillsundermined her capacity to engage fully ingroup discussion and thereby hindered hercapacity to benefit from the range of formaland informal learning opportunities affordedby such meetings:

“its like if you go in a meeting and youread things I panic, I panic, you know whatI mean I’m really like conscious about it …because like, a lot of people take themickey because you can’t read, and nowI’m really self conscious of it.”

The tutor at the company’s learning centresimilarly expressed the view that those withpoor literacy and numeracy skills were lessequipped to take advantage of staff develop-ment opportunities.

“There’s a lot of people who can’t evenread the communications put out, so a lotof people miss the opportunity to say liketrips or awards or things because they don’tunderstand the posters or they don’t under-stand the literature that’s like flying aboutwithin Coopers.”

The increasing “textualization” of the work-place means that those who have literacy andnumeracy needs are particularly vulnerable. Asin the case of other organizations involved inour research, individuals have remarked uponan increasing use of literacy, numeracy andtechnology in the workplace. In the words of aproduction manager:

“if somebody cut their finger 10-15 yearago we’d stick a plaster on and say therethere there, now there’s a four page docu-

ment we’ve got to fill in and how can westop somebody else from doing it again.”

Yet, the tutor also acknowledges that individu-als with literacy and numeracy needs have alsodeveloped effective strategies for copingwithin the workplace:

“we’ve got a couple of individuals whohave come out with the equivalent learn-ing… of a five year old… which is quitealarming to think that there’s kind of, he’soperating kind of dangerous equipment,but it just proves that people with Skills forLife issues are very bright people becausethey’ve managed up to now with thatamount of skill so you know you must givethem credit…”

Such individuals are particularly prone to relyon informal learning opportunities as a meansof compensating for their poor previous ex-perience of formal school learning as well astheir diminished capacity to utilise currenttraining opportunities within the company. Inthis context, such informal learning opportuni-ties as learning from colleagues (Observingfrom knowledgeables) were particularlyimportant in allowing employees with literacyneeds to survive in the workplace.

Courses are promoted through the abovementioned “huddles”, notices, the companybulletin as well as through Powerpoint presen-tation in the canteen. Each employee at thelevel of technician and above also undergoes aPerformance Development Process (PDP)which reviews their work and sets learningobjectives linked to the learning centre.According to the manager,


“Now the goal is to roll that out across allour employees, so the GOs (GeneralOperators), would have the same type ofobjectives, and that’s when you see, youcan start to see links coming in, at themoment we don’t do that in a structuredway as such but its another, its another toolto use.”

The development of training opportunitieswithin the company has led to a shift in empha-sis from “informal” to “formalized” learningwithin the company. Bill Williams, a techni-cian noted that when he first began working atCoopers over 25 years ago:

“I used to come to work on Monday andthere’d be a nice piece of equipment appearand you had to figure out how it worked.While now it’s a lot more, you do gettrained for the jobs.”

Yet, it is also noticeable that the company setsaside formal space for informal learning. Aspart of his PDP, Bill Williams was given timeoff to find out about other sectors of thecompany and learn from their work throughobservation and questions: “I did two dayswalking around where they fried the crisps tolearn how they do their job so I found out howmy actions impact on them.” Another exampleis Hilary Benton who was actively encouragedto engage in an ongoing process of informallearning as part of her Front line Employee toFront Line Manager programme (a fast-trackpromotion scheme for graduates) whichentailed her learning about a variety of jobs atGeneral Operative, supervisor and manage-ment level through the process of undertakingthese jobs.

The learning centre is an important site for thecomplex inter-weaving of formal and informallearning opportunities. The learners have theopportunity to undertake a variety of formallyaccredited LearnDirect courses in Skills forLife and ICT but are also given scope to engagein independent “self-directed” learning. Inaddition to guiding learners through SFLcourses, the tutor also leant laptops to learnersso that they could experiment and developconfidence with the technology in their owntime. For Maggie Taylor, a General Operator,such an opportunity was vital in allowing her toovercome her fear of using technology andexperiment with the computer in her own time“I’m very nervous with computers, very nerv-ous… but Geoff loaned me an old laptop and Iwas okay with that I could just pick it up whenI had a spare couple of hours.”

For 44 year-old Michelle Lewis, who hadworked her way from the shop-floor to being aFront-line manager, the process of undertakingLearnDirect Level 1 and Level 2 numeracyICT courses at the centre were an importantmeans of validating and “formalizing” a rangeof informal learning that had occurred duringher 25 years of employment at Coopers. Shehad worked her way up the organisation by“being nosey and being in the right place at theright time”. She had volunteered to stand in forsupervisory roles (during illness, holidays,etc.) and had thereby informally acquired therequisite skills for undertaking these jobs butwas still left with a lack of confidence thatemanated from a sense that her skills acquisi-tion had not been formally validated. “I need todo more on the computer… I need to do thespreadsheet course to see whether I can learnlike that, because all I know on computers is


what other people have shown me.” Theprocess of undertaking the course had consoli-dated her informally acquired skills and had,most importantly, boosted her confidence. Inparticular, the undertaking of these courses hadallowed Michelle to feel more confident inrelation to those who had received an extensiveformal education in relation to her own largelyinformally-acquired skills:

“I think it has helped, I certainly felt moreconfident once I’d done it, cos I mean Ididn’t go to college or university and like Isay I’m a front line manager in there and alot of the mangers coming in have gotdegrees and you know so it just means ifyou’re sitting in discussion, as many timesI’ve just been working something out off aspreadsheet whatever a piece of paper,how longs that going to take us to do, I’vebeen able to give the answers before, andit just makes you feel a little bit betterwithin the group.”

During follow up in-depth interviewsconducted in 2007 Michelle felt that the attitu-dinal effects of the course had been most long-lasting in so far as impact of the course inboosting her confidence continued to informher work: “its probably like in my subcon-scious all the time”.

Tracy Beaumont, aged 38, who had left schoolwith no qualifications undertook a range ofSkills for Life LearnDirect courses in responseto self-acknowledged problems with literacyalso sought to engage in formal learning as ameans of addressing a deep-seated crisis ofconfidence. She had learnt how to use graphs at

work without any formal training but saw thecourse as being largely for her own benefit: “attimes I think I’m really numb (stupid)… butthat’s the way I am.” The process of undertak-ing the courses is a way of finding out what shecan and can’t do and possibly convincingherself that she isn’t so “numb” after all. Sheattributes her low confidence to bad experi-ences at school which has also conditioned thenature of learning as an adult:

“I think that’s what puts me off going tocollege cos I would love to go to collegebut I think that’s what really puts me off…I don’t know I think, I just think well,school was that bad, it would be the sameyou know what I mean.”

Tracy’s perspective on learning mirrored theperspective of many other learners who viewedlearning at work as being less intimidating andfree from the associations of formal learning atschool. Another key advantage of undertakingcourses at the workplace was flexibility. BillWilliams appreciated the opportunity to regis-ter at the learning centre and then undertake thebulk of learning at home:

“I’m old fashioned, once I finish work Iwant to go home… learning is nothing todo with work, its still on the premises. Itake this home (i.e. the disk) and I’ll do thisat home, I can look after the bairn as wellwhile I’m doing it at home, I can’t whenI’m here… I just want to get out the prem-ises, even if they had a pub here, I would-n’t want to come and have a drink I’d justwant to go home, even if its free. Finishwork, home.”


This model of learning challenges the distinc-tion between workplace learning and othertypes of learning.

The learning centre at Coopers is currentlyundergoing a period of uncertainty followingan extremely scathing report in the summer of2007 which classified the LearnDirect sector as‘inadequate’ in all aspects (Effectiveness ofprovision, Capacity to improve, Achievementand standards, Quality of provision,Leadership and management) apart fromequality of opportunity. The weaknesses high-lighted in the report included low success rateson ICT courses, inadequate coaching and train-ing and an insufficient number of qualifiedstaff. The report nonetheless recognized underthe category of equality of opportunity thestrengths of the centre in providing a positivephysical environment that was accessible tocompany employees and the community atlarge.

The publication of the report brought to a headvarious tensions between the company andLearnDirect that had been simmering for sometime. According to the HR manager atCoopers, LearnDirect were keen to increasethe ratio of community to company learners(currently 60% from company and 40% fromthe community) in order to increase the poten-tial pool of learners signing up for courses. Thecompany felt increasingly “restricted” bycompliance with the LearnDirect nationalcontract and had already begun to seek alterna-tive provision. The company felt aggrieved thatthe report had not taken account of the type ofprovision that was offered at the learningcentre and claimed that the agency had imple-

mented too restrictive and college-centredcriteria for inspection. Whereas the reporthighlighted an insufficient number of trainedstaff, the company felt it was unreasonable toexpect an organization that was not a formaleducational provider to provide more than thetwo tutors who are currently based at thecentre. The report also criticized the centre’suse of untrained staff in the form of youngsterswho were providing additional support as partof their New Deal work experience. Bycontrast, the company stressed the value oftheir involvement in the centre both for thelearners (who benefited from additionalsupport) as well as the young people them-selves who gained valuable work experienceand job satisfaction.

The company is currently making arrange-ments for a local college to provide courses inthe learning centre (utilising the two tutors whoare currently based at the centre). From thecompany’s perspective this will provide more“flexibility” in terms of allowing them to offera wider range of courses, including those at ahigher level. Such an arrangement has the addi-tional advantage of protecting the learningcentre from external inspection. In the mean-time, the learning centre is open for employeesto engage in learning without embarking onformally accredited courses.

Analysis of the formal and informal learn-ing opportunities at Coopers

Coopers provides for a range of formalizedlearning within the company structure but alsoaccords official space for the opportunities for


informal learning (observation of otheremployees, sharing of ideas in huddles, etc.).The increasing “textualisation” of the Cooperswork environment has made employees whostruggle with poor literacy and numeracy moreprone to miss out on formal training opportu-nities and increases the significance of ‘infor-mal’ learning for these particular employees.

The learning centre represents an importantsite for the inter-weaving of formal and infor-mal learning opportunities. It is noticeable thatthe popularity of the learning centre restspartly on it not being too closely associatedwith formalized learning. The tutors loan oflaptops and accordance of space for informalself-directed learning on computers (Searchingindependently for information) has been animportant component of the learning centre.

The learning centre initially attracted nationalacclaim from institutions such as Business inthe Community for its innovative efforts toprovide learning opportunities that straddledthe company/community divide. Yet, thecentre’s incarnation as a recognizedLearnDirect centre has also generated variousproblems that stem partly from differingperspectives over what types of formal andinformal learning should be valued. Whereasthe OFSTED report highlighted a failure toconform with nationally recognized standardsand assessment procedures, the companyembraced a looser vision of learning thatincluded both formal and informal elements.

HLN Manufacturing

HLN Manufacturing is a large engineeringcompany specializing in the manufacture ofparts for cars with a global workforce ofapproximately 50,000 employees. In its WestMidlands site (which is the focus of this case-study), the company has 323 employees,including 15 managers, 40 technical staff and260 operatives. The number of employees onthe site has shrunk from over 2000 in the early1980s to its present size as a result of the intro-duction of computerized technology.

As part of their everyday work, machine oper-ators (who make up the bulk of the learnersthat are the focus of this case-study), monitorand calibrate computerized machinery. Theirwork entails the use of “basic averages” tomonitor output as well as the filling in of inproduction plans. Several machine operatorsremarked upon the increasing prevalence oftarget-setting and report writing, manifested inthe introduction of “lost-time” analysis in thelast two years in which forms have to be filledin on an hourly basis if production quotas havenot been met. In the words of Bill Renfrew

“everything is around production now andyou have to hit targets, without the targetsyou’re not making a profit so you know, itsall around that now. And there are somevisual sheets, big sheets that you have towrite down so anybody can walk past andsay why didn’t you hit the target… there isa lot more paper work now.”

Three Union Learning Representatives (ULRs)were instrumental in the establishment of a


‘Skills for Life’ course that ran from May 2005to July 2005, consisting of 1 hour 30 minutesessions for 10 weeks. Bill Renfrew, whoplayed a particularly instrumental role in theestablishment of the course, found out aboutthe Union Learning Fund (ULF) during thecourse of his involvement in the companyunion committee. He volunteered to train as aULR and formally took on this role inJanuary 2004.

In order to prepare for the establishment of acourse in the company, Bill Renfrew sent out aquestionnaire to all employees asking themabout the learning needs and preferences, 10%of which were returned. The majority of thosewho returned the questionnaire expressed apreference to undertake a computer course;“there were very few that wanted the basics inliteracy and numeracy”. Frustrated with hisefforts to gain funding from the UnionLearning Fund, Bill Renfrew and the otherULRs decided to establish a course on the basisof their own initiative. “I just knocked theunion on the head and I went my own way andI got in touch with Walsall college, and that’show the course started off.”

Having entered into discussions with the localcollege, the ULRs were advised that theyshould set up a literacy course as a “first step”to learning. Bill Renfrew and the other ULRssubsequently encouraged employees to embarkon a literacy and numeracy course as a meansof paving the way to a computer coursethrough ascertaining their level in basic skillsand addressing any weaknesses that mightundermine their capacity to undertake an ICTcourse. The ULRs encountered a frustrating 18month delay in the establishment of the course

as a result of complications over funding whichmeant that “expectations, enthusiasm of learn-ers was let down. We’ve had to build them upagain.”

The course began on the 19th May 2005 andfinished on the 21st July 2005. Officially enti-tled “Key Skills Communication – Level 1 and2” and “Key skills Application of NumberLevel 1 and 2” the course consisted of twoclasses lasting for 1 hour 30 minutes for 10weeks in the employees’ own time. The classeswere run in the middle of the day on Thursdayin order to fit in with employees who wereeither about to start or finish their shift in themiddle of the day. The company has beensupportive of Bill Renfrew’s involvement as aULR, giving him time off each Thursday to beon course and help other learners. Bill reportsto a steering committee each month made up ofthe union, HR management and the localcollege.

A total of eight employees, six machinists, onefork-lift driver and one “craftsman” undertookthe course which was run in the union room, acramped room without windows. The age ofthe employees, all of whom had finishedformal education at the age of 16, ranged from32 to 58.

For the majority of employees, the motivationto embark on such a course was tied to genericrather than job-specific factors. Mike Philips,who had worked for the company for 30 years,embarked on the course

“for general interest, general knowledge,and to improve myself. Because I’m one ofthese, I truly believe that as long as you


keep your brain active, you’ll stay fit andhealthy, if you just relax and you just vege-tate, I don’t think you’ll live long youwon’t have a long life because everythingwill just shut down.”

Mike harboured long-term plans to study theGerman language. He was encouraged by theaccessibility of the course and was inspired tolearn by the knowledge that he was the onlymember of his household who had no qualifi-cations; “there was only me in our house, thathad got no qualifications or certificates oranything, I mean even our dog had got a pedi-gree, so I thought its time to catch up.”

Despite the increased use of report writing andcomputerized machinery, all the employeesfelt they coped adequately with their existingskills in the workplace, with the exception ofone employee (Malcom Owen) who struggledwith the metric system (which had been intro-duced five years prior to the course) and whowas subsequently dissatisfied with the coursesince it failed to respond to his specificrequirements. From an overall companyperspective, the Human Resources managercited the goal of offering “general develop-ment to staff” and increasing “staff morale” asbeing key objectives.

The lack of job-specific motivations for under-taking the course becomes more understand-able when one considers the significance ofinformal learning within the organization.Trevor Stephens (one of the ULRs) describedthe significance of what he termed “hands onlearning” in which employees were shown howto use new technology and develop their skillswhilst working:

“I think a lot of people though, probably alot of people on the shop floor, they’vebeen there for years and years, probablyare very good mathematically althoughthey haven’t done it at school, but by using,through engineering and one thing andanother they probably are quite good.We’re sort of more advanced maths thansort of basic, sort of equations and workingout surface areas and stuff like that butprobably having to put it down on paperthat’s where they could struggle.”

Through a variety of informal learningprocesses, including “Observing from knowl-edgeables” (in particular learning a new task orthe same job in a different way by observing amore proficient co-worker), “Focused work-place discussions” and “Mentoring and coach-ing”, the employees had developed proficiencyin the specific skills that were needed for theirjob. More formalized one-day training wouldtake place in such areas as health and safety aswell as in response to the introduction of newtechnology. It is noticeable that two of thelearners who were interviewed in-depth made apoint of expressing their appreciation of thecourse as a means of practising skills whichthey would not normally have the opportunityof developing during the course of their work-ing lives. Tim Roberts explained his situationas follows:

“when I was at school we did essays andconstant work since I’ve left school I’mjust manual, I’m just making stuff youknow, there’s nothing really lengthy that Ihave to write anymore, and I like to writebut I just don’t get the chance to.”


For Tim, the course was a useful means of reas-suring himself that he had not lost the skillsthat he had learnt at school, whilst also instill-ing a greater degree of challenge:

“You just… sort of level off and you thinkwell am I as good as what I use to be or…you know, am I pushing myself hardenough and in doing that its shown mewell… you’re as good as what you was ifnot a bit better now.”

Similarly Bill Renfrew appreciated the oppor-tunity to reawaken skills that had been largelydormant since his time at school. As in the caseof other ULRs, Bill’s motivation for participa-tion in the course was also tied to encouragingother employees to engage in learning:

“I thought it was really good, especially thenumeracy and literacy, I’d left school 40odd years ago and you use some of it butyou don’t use a lot of it, so going back tothe numeracy and the literacy was reallyhard to begin and I did want to start learn-ing again which I did do. So its very good,its very good and if more people can getinvolved and get these people learning, I’msure they’ll … sometimes you feel no Idon’t want to do that again but once youstart its very good.”

As in the case of other organizations, the learn-ers stressed the advantages of studying in theworkplace rather than a college in terms ofconvenience and accessibility. Trevor Stephensmentioned that

“you’re already here … which is the beautyof things, I use to go to the college, I’d be

looking at my watch, got to go in a minutegot to go in a minute, there’s no sort oftime limit here you can just take yourtime.”

Similarly Tim Roberts mentioned that

“I don’t want to be going to that environ-ment (i.e. a college) but because it was setup here and everybody is in the same boatyou know, you can go and do it and yeah Ifelt comfortable doing it that way.”

All the learners undertook Literacy Level 1 andLevel 2 tests at Walsall College at the end ofthe course. The undertaking of the exams in acollege environment was a source of concernfor some learners. Trevor Stephens mentionedthat “I think a lot of people were concerned…I think especially the older you get, to sort ofwalk into college… You suddenly feel asthough you’re being stared at … by the youngkids.”

At the request of Bill Renfrew and other ULRs,the company built a new Learning Centre in2006. Funded by the company at a cost of£10,000, the learning centre consists of a largetraining room and additional room equippedwith four computers. Three of these weredonated by company employees whilst thefourth was purchased on the basis of money thelearners won from a NIACE Learners GroupAward in 2006. The walls of the computerroom display the NIACE Learners GroupAward and Walsall lifelong learning “certifi-cate of recognition”.

The majority of learners from the literacy andnumeracy course proceeded to be involved in


NVQ Level 1 and Level 2 computer coursesrun at the new learning centre. In April 2007,the number of learners on these ICT courses,which were taught by a tutor from WalsallCollege who also provided additional laptops,had declined from 18 to 10.

In keeping with their previous learning motiva-tions, the learners interviewed as part of thefollow-up in-depth interviews cited genericrather than job-specific reasons for wishing toengage in this course. Mike Philips who hadnow embarked on NVQ Level 2 in computers(having completed his level 1) spoke with greatenthusiasm about his new found skills:

“and now I can do it myself, fantastic, Iswitch the computer I can do whatever Ilike now, send emails you know itsabsolutely brilliant. I mean it doesn’t affectmy job but if I needed a job its there. Imean I was 54 on Easter Sunday so I’mstill learning at 54 its great.”

He took particular pleasure in having bookedhis holiday online.

His motivations for learning continued to beassociated closely with his interests in historyand languages: “I still want to learn thelanguages. Its arrogant of us to think thateverybody should speak English, we should beable to communicate in their language also,you know, to be fair.”

Trevor Stephens, who had proceeded to study aCLAIT course at college was considering thepossibility of training as a social workerthrough the Open University at the time of thesecond follow-up interview. The other learners

had embarked on computer courses as a resultof “general interest”. For Jon Barker the coursehad the additional advantage of facilitating hiswork as a union convener.

At the time of the most recent interview inApril 2007, Bill Renfrew was still pursuingmeans of gaining additional funding. He feltdisillusioned by his inability to gain any fund-ing from Union Learning Fund. He was alsocontemplating ways of promoting the coursesmore effectively.

Analysis of the formal and informal learn-ing opportunities at HLN Manufacturing

The establishment of a course represents agrass-roots initiative on the part of ULRs withthe wider support of the company and localcollege. It is noticeable that the learners’ moti-vation for engaging in the course was under-pinned by a high value placed on learning forits own sake and its diverse ramifications onother aspects of their lives.

Though the company has undergone majororganizational change in terms of embracingnew technology and implementing more rigor-ous surveillance procedures which entailsincreased forms of documentation, it is notice-able that the vast majority of learners havecoped adequately with their existing literacyand numeracy skills. The employees employednumeracy skills such as averages, working withdiameters without having formally acquiredthese skills on a course. Informal learningprocesses had equipped all the learners (withthe exception of one employee who struggledwith the metric system) with the necessary skills


to undertake their work. The course wasregarded as an interesting means of ascertain-ing the formal level (or classroom level) of theirskills which had been developed through infor-mal development in the workplace.

The Weapons DefenceEstablishment

The Weapons Defence Establishment is aweapons manufacturer with three and a halfthousand employees. The company wasapproached by Basingstoke College to runbasic literacy and ICT courses through fundingfrom the South East England DevelopmentAgency (SEEDA). The ICT and Englishclasses consist of one and a half hour sessionsover 22 weeks with approximately seven learn-ers in each class. The courses take place at thecompany’s impressive training centre which islocated several miles from the main site amidstpleasant parkland. Each learner was assigned acomputer from the beginning of the course.According to the course tutor, the goal of thesecourses is to “learn basic computer skills andbrush up on English”. The training manager atBGV saw the ICT and English courses as auseful opportunity to address an imbalance inthe distribution of training within the company:

“At the end of the day, we’re in a competi-tive market place for some very cleverphysicists, mathematicians, engineers,metalogists, so inevitably if we end upgetting our hands on those individuals weoften give them all the development withinreason that they need, and we need to

develop them in the job that they’re doing,possibly at the expense of some of thepeople at the lower end. As a result, thisprogram has given us the opportunity togive those individuals some developmentas well.”

Most importantly, the running of the ICT andEnglish courses have facilitated the company’sbid to encourage employees to take on moreresponsibility within their existing job roles aspart of an overall trend towards the “levelingout” of management structures.

“There are fewer people within our organi-sation than there were 10 years ago. As aresult of that we have been asking thosepeople to take on more, but er… becausewe weren’t developing them often they’vesaid “I want to stay where I’m comfort-able” “No I’m not prepared to take onmore”. But in light of us giving some ofthis additional development to them wehave seen more of a… “I’ll have a go atthat” attitude from them. You’ve given mesomething so… yeah I’ve got that little bitmore confidence to have a go at it.”

All the learners remarked that they had takenon increasing responsibility in recent years,including such tasks as filling in self-appraisals, dealing with contractors, sendingemails and writing risk assessments, all ofwhich also increased their exposure to technol-ogy. The process of delegating responsibilityto lower-level employees has entailed anincreased emphasis on both formal and infor-mal learning opportunities within the organi-zation. Employees are encouraged to sign up


for courses through their appraisal meetingswhich are also tied to pay and promotionprospects. For example, the undertaking of a“risk assessors” course allows lower-levelemployees to undertake risk assessmentswhich have previously been the remit of moresenior colleagues. Equally, employees areencouraged to show initiative in taking onmore responsibility in the form of more chal-lenging tasks that depend on informal learning“on the job”.

Liz Andrews, a Health Physics Surveyordescribed this company ethos as follows:

“We’ve been more responsible forourselves and looking after our own work,we’ve been given a bit of slack too, to useour own initiative… whereas in the pastthey would book everything in for us…and we’d say yes or no where as now wecan more or less go off and do it.”

Liz Andrews described the development of herjob in terms of both formal training (in her casea period of extended training in a college) aswell as “hands on learning it in the workplace”.Roger Taylor highlighted the significance of“Focused Workplace Discussions” as being aparticularly important component of informallearning in the workplace:

“Well we work as a team, and… I meanyou could be on a job and somebody mighthave had a similar type of job so youalways have a chat with somebody, did youknow about this? Or have you had anyexperience of this? so… we exchangeknowledge between each other all the time.It’s part of your job.”

Oliver Green, born in 1944, who similarlyhighlighted the increased range of formal andinformal learning opportunities that accompa-nied the delegation of responsibility, felt thathis job position was now more vulnerable

“I think I’m going to have to fight to er…keep the grading, as far as that work isconcerned. They’re expecting me to do allthese complicated things which I never hadto do, and involving the computer scienceand technology.”

Although Oliver Green had undertaken aspecific course to use a computerized testingfacility, his job also depended on informallearning in the form of “Mentoring and coach-ing” from his line manager.

The Weapons Defence Establishment involvedthe unions representing lower-level employees(Transport and General Workers Union andAmicus) from the early stages of setting up thecourses. The courses have also allowed themanagement to allay union concerns about theabove mentioned imbalance in training oppor-tunities within the company: A road show wasorganized by the college to promote thecourses. Other forms of promotion includedputting messages in pay-slips, advertisementsin staff publications and notices on the intranet.The literacy aspects of the course were nothighlighted at this stage.

The programme manager at the collegedescribed ICT as a useful “hook” for engaginglearners in literacy:

“People see a computer as a way of makingthem more skilled generally both at home


and work… whereas they can’t always seethe relevance of English quite as easily…The other reason is that they don’t feelthere is any stigma attached to doing anICT course… whereas there is sometimes acertain amount of sensitivity and embar-rassment attached to a generic Englishcourses”.

More pragmatic considerations also lie behindthe process of embedding literacy in ICT:

“Combining English courses with comput-ers is very useful in terms of engaginglearners… It is also very useful from acollege point of view in allowing thecollege to meet its targets. If we were notcombining ICT with English, we would notbe meeting our targets.”

In addition to these courses, the company hasalso run a number of dedicated literacy coursesfor a smaller number of employees (often onlythree learners in each class) with major weak-nesses in this area.

According to the programme manager atBasingstoke College of Technology, fundingfrom the local development agency (SEEDA)has been vital in allowing for an “infrastruc-ture” to be built up (in the form of the so-called “Context Programme”) that allows herto play an active role in approaching organiza-tions and brokering the establishment ofcourses. This funding has allowed theprogramme manager to establish contacts withcompanies and undertake rudimentaryOrganizational Needs Analysis (ONAs) beforetailoring courses to the specific circumstancesof each organization.

This case study focuses upon the longer-termimpact of a course that over a 22 week periodfrom 2004-2005. The majority of learners onthe course were machine tool fitters involved inthe maintenance and supply of machineryparts. It is noticeable that the learners weremotivated by the need to develop their ICTrather than literacy skills. In keeping with the“learning by stealth” approach, most of thelearners were not aware of the literacy compo-nent of the course. Roger Taylor mentionedthat:

“I think we were slightly misled from theinitial literature that came up, because itturned out to be more of a literacy thing,and er… we said well we haven’t got aproblem with it but it wasn’t something weexpected when we initially went forwardfor it. So we just saw that through as well.”

For Gary Thompson, the concealed literacycomponent had various advantages: “I think itwas probably good, the fact that I didn’t knowbefore, because I probably wouldn’t have goneotherwise.” He explains his reluctance to go onan more explicitly literacy course in terms of:

“Basically because I’m not very good atspelling. So sort of a fear in that area wouldhave put me off… He believes this senti-ment applied more widely to employees ingeneral who would have been ‘frightenedof either not being able to spell or fright-ened of being sort of talked down to Isuppose’.”

As in other sites, the learners emphasised theadvantage of learning in the workplace asopposed to a college. For Gary Thompson, the


advantage of doing the course in workplace isthat “it isn’t such a big decision for one. So itsquite encouraging… although you’re commit-ted to seeing the course out, there seems to bea lot more… effort is the wrong word, effortcommitment to travel somewhere else.”Undertaking a course at college involves moreof a risk of “getting somewhere and findingthat you’re a bit of an idiot. Where as locally itseems quite acceptable to say, right that’s it, Ican’t do it I’ve had enough. There’s lessembarrassment.”

In terms of course outcomes, the majority oflearners emphasized that the course hadboosted their confidence in dealing withcomputers. For Oliver Green the literacycomponent of the course represented merely anopportunity to “brush up” on his existing skills.The course had inspired him to buy a computerand equipped him with greater confidence indealing with technology in general. GaryThompson maintained that his literacy skillshad benefited indirectly from the course in sofar as he was now able to rely on spell check toassist his writing:

“I wouldn’t say I was dyslexic but yeah Itend to really not see letters or things, soreally of course no. The computer hashelped with this, the functions, but theactual spelling no, my spelling will alwaysbe the same I’m afraid … it’s the function-ality of the computer that’s improved, notspelling… the end product is better. Theactual thing (i.e. level of literacy) is exactlythe same.”

The course also allowed for the development ofa variety of informal learning opportunities.

Oliver Green was one of several learners whobought a computer during the course so that hecould consolidate his newly acquired skills athome through independent study: “I used tofinish off what we were doing in class athome”. For Gary Thompson the courseboosted his confidence and allowed him todevelop further ICT skills through “self-directed learning” and exploration: “I wouldsay basically its increased my confidence toexperiment … really until you get where youwant. Or at least experiment for a while untilyou find you can’t.” Mike Swan similarlycommented on his increased capacity to exper-iment with ICT: “with the computer course ithelps you because obviously if you’re waitingfor a job and you think well I’m waiting forthat bit of paper work here and you think rightwell I’ll have a go at that, and see if I can get itchecked.”

The impact of the course was extended furtherinto the workplace through the employeesinformal pooling of individual experiences andrecollections of the course. Roger Taylordescribed this process as follows:

“we’ve got a computer we can use atwork,… and er… its one we share, I meanall the guys in the office have got theirown, but there’s one in the workshop thatwe can share and Stans doing spreadsheetsand stuff … so he says yeah can youremember how we did this? So we sit downtogether and work it out, from the coursethat we did, the training that we had, some-body might remember something.”

The longer-term impact of the course has beenshaped by individual opportunities for career


development within the company. At the timeof follow up interviews conducted inOctober 2006, Mike Swan and Gary Thompsonhad been promoted to the position of WorksSupervisory Officer. Both employees expressedthe view that the course had helped themprepare for their current job which involvesextensive use of ICT in order to undertake riskassessments and deal with contractors.

Mike Swan had been given the opportunity toundertake NVQ Level 2 course in IT. With noprior experience of computers, the course hadbeen important in giving him the “confidence”to work with computers and had allowed himto progress to more advanced study. He wassupportive of the overall company approachtowards training: “the more training you dothen obviously helps with your appraisals andpay and things like that.”

Whereas Mike Swan had previously notattached much significance to the literacycomponent of the course, he now felt that suchskills benefited his current job role: “I realisethat it was quite an important part … before Iwasn’t really writing too much, and now obvi-ously I use it a lot more, do more handwritingas well as on the computer.”

Both employees expressed the view that thecourse had boosted their confidence in dealingwith computers and had also encouraged themto buy computers at home; both stressed thevalue of the course in allowing them to helptheir children with their homework. AlthoughGary Thompson viewed the course as a “verygood step up”, he expressed a more negativeview of the company’s motivations for runningthe course:

“Since their training is very much to suitthemselves, they send us on these coursesand they get work done that they wouldnormally have paid higher grades to do …so its beneficial to us but I think they getmore out of it, and the other thing is withthis company, they like their perception ofinvestors in people, their little logos, etc.,so I think its part of their plan but overall Ithink they get very good value out of whatthey put us on.”

The other employees had also taken on moreresponsibility, whilst undertaking the same jobroles, as part of the company’s strategy of dele-gating more demanding work to lower-levelemployees. Undertaking the course and a will-ingness to undertake higher level tasks hadallowed Ralph Welsey, born in 1953, to bepositively assessed in his PDG (peer develop-ment group) which had led to a 5% payincrease. But he still felt disgruntled by hissalary of £14,800 a year. The computer coursehad facilitated his capacity to take on increasedadministrative duties.

“It adds to the variety obviously its moreinteresting than sweeping up, but thenyou’ve got the thing going, at what pointdo you say I’m doing this additional workand I think I should be earning more andI’m not. And that’s going to start eatingaway, its not worth doing.”

Frustration on the part of some learners thatincreased responsibility had not been accom-panied by increased pay and promotion oppor-tunities was accompanied by a degree ofperplexity over opportunities for further learn-ing. Whereas Mike Swan had been offered


further training in ICT Level this opportunityhad not been offered to other employees.

From a management perspective the courseshave been a success. By October 2006, 400learners had completed the IT and literacycourses. The training manager claimed that:

“The course has been helpful in our effortsto make the workforce ‘feel as one’ so tospeak. Previously … as part of the civilservice … there was much more of a hier-archical structure … those at the top areskilled and then there is the rest. Thecourses have given people more confidenceand opportunity to engage with computers.It has given them more flexibility.Previously there was much more of an ‘oldculture’ and a hierarchy: ‘this is my job …this is what I do’. The courses have helpedto ‘broaden people’s horizons … people arenow more willing to take on new roles’.”

Analysis of the formal and informal learn-ing opportunities at the Weapons DefenceEstablishment

The levelling out of management structureswithin the Weapons Defence Establishment hasincreased the significance of both formal andinformal learning opportunities. As part oftaking on more responsibility, employees areencouraged to commit themselves to trainingopportunities through the appraisal system.Whereas previously salaries were consistentwithin grades of the organization and negoti-ated by the union, in the current system promo-tion and pay depend on individual perform-ance. In this context, employee involvement in

formalized training has the potential to bringbenefits in terms of promotion and pay.

The IT and English courses at this organiza-tion have been a success in so far as they haverecruited a large number of learners over thelong-term. The popularity of these coursesindicates the importance of workplace coursesbeing tailored to the priorities of the organiza-tion. In this case, such courses have respondedto major structural changes in the companyinvolving the delegation of responsibility tolower-level employees and they have beenutilized to address a perceived training imbal-ance amongst the different strata of employees.

The levelling out of management structuresalso has major implications for informal learn-ing. The expectation that employees should“take on more” and “show initiative” meansthat employees are frequently given greaterscope for learning about new duties through onthe job experience at work.

Thorpton Local Authority

The publication of the Moser report in 1999provided the impetus for the implementation ofSkills For Life courses in the Borough ofThorpton, which employs between 1,500 and1,800 staff. Union Learning Representatives(ULRs) have played an important role inimplementing a series of Skills for Life coursesat the local authority’s learning centre –located on the premises of a refuse centre – inpartnership with the learning centre manager,Barking Adult College and the College ofNorth East London.


The courses, entitled IT and English andCommunication Skills at Work last for sixhours a week over a five weeks period and aredesigned for a range of “front-line” staffincluding cleaners, care-takers and refusecollectors. Funded by the Learning and SkillsCouncil (via the local colleges) and facilitatedby the local authority’s release of employeesduring working hours, the courses aim to givethe learners a chance to “brush up” or improvetheir literacy skills with the chance to takenational tests at Level 1 or 2. In terms of thepromotion of the courses, Penny Robinson,Learning Centre Manager, met individuals insmall groups and also discussed the courses atstaff meetings. Micky Neale, a ULR who wasinstrumental in the setting up of the coursesstressed the importance of retaining confiden-tiality around the learners’ progress on thecourse; all learners cover the same programmebut at different levels and line managers are notinformed of the literacy levels of their staff.The tutor described the importance of address-ing a lack of confidence amongst learners andof trying to challenge the tendency to associatelearning with school:

“I think I’ve lost track of the number ofpeople that come in to that course andthey’ll pull you to one side and they’ll saylook I was never very good at spelling,er… I wasn’t very good at school and youhave to say to them look that’s not what itsabout, its about … whatever you want to doin this classroom, whatever you feel yourneeds are we can address them here sodon’t, its not a case of testing you. You’vegot this three hours for the next you know10 weeks to develop.”

The tutor feels that the courses have beeneffective in addressing many of these fears andnegative associations:

“…I feel quite happy that we’ve gonealong with it because I’ve had so many sayto me I didn’t want to come here. I wasthinking this was going to be like goingback to school, and then they said youknow, a lot of them at the end said I’vereally enjoyed it, thanks you know, becausethey’re not expecting that kind of relaxed,you know treated as an adult, you know doit at your own pace…”

This case study focuses on caretakers andcleaners who undertook a CommunicationsCourse, involving literacy and ICT for threehours a week over a five week period fromJanuary 2004 onwards. An increase in reportwriting in order to document damage, acci-dents and instances of vandalism formed theunderlying rationale for the involvement ofthese caretakers in the course. In the words ofthe Learning Centre Manager:

“We’ve just run a course for caretakersnow in theory they virtually tick boxes thatshould be the job, but they’re finding thatthey’re having to write a little bit moreinformation on forms, and I think that doesworry some of them because they all saywell my spellings terrible, my handwritingis terrible so they are aware that perhapsthey’re having to… write more and they’rebeing, and their handwriting and theirspelling is being noticed more than perhapsit was five years ago…”


The care-takers had learnt how to undertaketheir current roles by a combination of formaland informal learning. Each newly appointedcaretaker is formally assigned to a more expe-rienced colleague who guides them throughkey duties, such as cleaning and keepingrecords of damage to the property, through aninformal process of “Mentoring and coach-ing” (one of the key categories of informallearning identified by Taylor, Evans andMohamed). In addition caretakers periodicallyundertake one day training in such areas ashealth and safety, manual handling and “deal-ing with violent people”. Abdul Nazif empha-sized the importance of skills acquisitionthrough work experience:

“I didn’t know how much was involved incleaning, until I got this cleaning job, it’snot an easy thing, its complicated, there’schemicals, water, amounts, substances,how you do what you do, when you do it,the temperatures effect, there’s certainthings you have to really get to know, ofcourse, you learn from experience.”

The majority of learners emphasized theadvantages of undertaking a course in theworkplace. In stressing the advantages oflearning with colleagues in a familiar setting,Bob Murphey also revealed that such sessionsallow for a considerable degree of informallearning based on the mutual support andexchange of knowledge on the part of thelearners: “everybody’s in the same situation asme, and we all try and like help one another outlike if we can, as well as Malcolm, so yeah itsquite good… you know them so its not too bad,you’re not frightened (of) asking for help infront of the people.” For Ryan Taylor the

course allowed many employees to challengethe tendency to equate learning with educationat school: “a lot of the attitude from the guys inthe workforce was er… well I’m too old to goback to school and they got that impressionabout adult learning, its like going back toschool and some guys have that impression butonce they actually did it it was quite different.”

Several of the learners who were interviewedin-depth felt the course had improved their useof literacy in the workplace. Trevor Woodfordmaintained that the course had improved hiscapacity to fill in reports: “before (I was) justguessing where it went really. Its sort of thesame for me but it’s a lot better now I knowwhere to put things”. Trevor also asserts thathe is: “A lot better at writing letters, and weeven done a… how to talk on the phone, speak-ing on the phone to someone, or making acomplaint.” He gave the example of writing anemail to the council complaining about thetiles in his kitchen: “without putting it nastily Iwrote a decent sort of email to them and I gota reply back with the same sort of manner Iwrote the email in. Whereas before I suppose Iwouldn’t have even bothered you know.”

During the course of follow up in-depth inter-views in 2007, Trevor Woodford revealed thathe had taken on a more supervisory role as acaretaker and had proceeded to undertake vari-ous computer courses at the local civic centre.He regarded the course as being useful inpreparing him for the next stage of his career asan estate officer which would entail moreoffice administration and contact with contrac-tors: “when I do move on I’ll have the confi-dence to do it.”. The course had thereforegenerated the potential for various informal


learning opportunities; and by boosting hisconfidence the course had encouraged Trevorto apply himself to higher level roles in whichhe would develop the requisite skills throughon the job experience. Trevor would alsoengage in self-directed learning by referringback to his course notes in response to specifictasks at work: “if I’m doing something that wasrelated to that course then I would look at mynotes to help me”.

Bob Murphey had previously employed vari-ous strategies to deal with report writingincluding using the first letter of each word asa shorthand (W for window, B for broken) aswell as reliance on his line manager. Thecourse allowed him to undertake his job withgreater self-sufficiency.

“It makes me feel really good, cos now Ican fill in forms and write down what flatsand all that, what problems are going on inthe flats. Now I don’t have to keep sneak-ing around to find someone else to keepspelling it for me, I can try and have a go atit myself.”

During a follow-up interview in 2007 BobMurphey revealed that he had also taken onmore responsibility as a care-taker (whereaspreviously he had been more involved in clean-ing) and had undertaken further computercourses at the learning centre which facilitatedhis use of email to communicate with his part-ner in Brazil. He now felt more confident aboutfilling in evaluation forms as part of trainingsessions.

Abdul Nazif provided a less sanguine view ofthe capacity of one course to make a substan-

tial impact on working practices: “puttingsomething good into something that’s spoilt forso long its not going to make it right, so muchdamage already, Malcolm (the tutor) did agreat deal of work on me, but it didn’t reallyput the picture right.” Yet, Abdul Nazif under-lined the significance of improving his literacyskills in order to fulfill his goals of gainingpromotion: “I wanted to better my position atwork, cos I don’t always want to be doingmanual work they’re talking about a supervi-sors job now for me, and you find that most ofit where… 40% of it officially is paperwork.”Abdul had recently developed informal, self-study techniques in recognition of the impor-tance of developing his literacy skills: “I’veadapted at work lately a little notebook which Iwrite down all the incidents down and I’mgetting really in to that, because its like identi-fying problems and putting it down, expressingmyself and dates and time and all that.”

In 2007, Abdul Nazif was still undertaking alower-level caretaking role which was effec-tively a job as a cleaner though also involvingbasic documentation. He maintained the coursehad given him a more “conscious” knowledgeof the English language but he was stillemploying various strategies to assist withreport writing, including using a tape-recorderfor the recording of problems which he wouldwrite down at home. He saw his poor literacyskills as holding back his career development“its my responsibility I shouldn’t be expectinganyone to do that, I should actually use mywages, pay for it and get the English higherand to move forward in life…” It is noticeable,therefore, that Abdul perceived a clearlydefined limit to the degree to which he couldimprove his literacy skills through informal


study. Substantial progress in this areadepended ultimately on formal training.

In May 2007 a newly refurbished and devel-oped learning centre, equipped with a special-ized computer room was officially opened atThorpton’s refuse site. Micky Adams, a ULRwho has played a particularly important role inthe development of the courses, maintains thatlearning opportunities are now much moreentrenched in the local authority. When he firstsought to set up courses for front-line staff heencountered a degree of resistance on the partof some middle managers, citing the exampleof one manager who proclaimed “why do theyneed training … they know how to use abroom.” He now feels that managers areconsiderably more supportive as a result ofhaving seen the benefits of training in terms ofincreased confidence (manifested in individu-als being much more verbal in meetings) andemployees’ increased capacity to deal withhealth and safety and other material. Micky hasreceived national acclaim for his role in devel-oping learning opportunities at Thorpton,winning a runner-up award for Public Servantof the year at the Guardian’s Public ServiceAwards in 2006.

The communications courses are on-going forfront-line staff and have now incorporatedmore health and safety and appraisal trainingalongside ICT. Penny Robinson, the learningmanager cites “increased staff confidence” asthe most important outcome of the courses.She maintains that “those who have done thecourse will speak up more” and are more likelyto become involved in local steering groups. Inher opinion, “if you give people confidence,

everything else will improve… If you don’thave that nothing else will happen.” She alsofeels the courses have been successful inencouraging learners to embark on furtherlearning. An important component of thesuccess of the courses, in her opinion, has beenthe tutor who has worked with them since theinception of the programmes and has beenparticularly effective in putting learners “attheir ease”.

Analysis of the formal and informal learn-ing opportunities at the Thorpton LocalAuthority

Caretakers at Thorpton Local Authority haveacquired job-specific skills and knowledgethrough a combination of formal and informallearning. The local authority formally allocatesmore experienced colleagues to guide recentlyappointed caretakers, but the mentoringprocess is largely unstructured and informal.

The increasing use of report writing amongstcare-takers has underlined the significance ofliteracy skills and has highlighted a skills defi-ciency in this area amongst some employees.With the exception of Abdul Nazif (describedabove) who made of point of practising hiswriting skills independently, most care-takershave employed various strategies whichinvolve “getting by” rather than informallearning. In the specific area of literacy infor-mal learning has not allowed for major skillsgaps to be addressed. Reliance on supervisorsto fill in forms, for example, does not provideopportunities for informal “Mentoring andcoaching” and therefore leaves unaddressed


the underlying skills deficiencies. The courseshave helped some employees improve theirliteracy skills and has facilitated progressionwithin the workplace. Yet the most significantoutcome, highlighted by learners, the tutor andmanager alike, has been an increased confi-dence on the part of employees which has led todevelopment of further formal learning oppor-tunities (through willingness to embark onfurther learning) as well as informal learningopportunities (through the taking on of higherlevel roles that also entail hands on learning).

Interweaving of formal and informal learning: Commonthemes and issues arising

Learning centres represent important sites forthe interweaving of formal and informal learn-ing opportunities. It is noticeable that in thecases here, popularity of the learning centresrests partly on their not being too closely asso-ciated with formalized learning. Facilities suchas loan of laptops and accordance of space forinformal self-directed learning on computers(Searching independently for information) areimportant examples of how the affordances forlearning can be enhanced.

In two of the UK cases provision has to relateto large, multi-site organisation. Although theclasses have been carried out at a wide range ofsites they are mainly held in various centres or‘Learning Zones’. Equipped with computersand training rooms, they aim to provide aninviting and non-threatening space for learn-ing, which includes literacy, numeracy, GCSEEnglish, IT alongside other courses. In one

case, a training facility initially consisting of asmall room with five computers expanded to alearning centre became a ‘LearnDirect’ (medi-ated computer-based training) centre in 2002,and then moved to a large purpose-built build-ing in 2004. In the latter case, the companypays the salary of a full-time tutor and assistantand provided the funds for the new building,whilst LearnDirect (public funding) financesthe computers and resources, with the centre isalso open to the local community. In additionto computer and skills for life courses and job-specific training, the centre also offers adulteducation courses which have been veryimportant in attracting individuals from thecompany and community at large. In anotherfood processing company, literacy andlanguage courses were offered as part of acompany strategy (union negotiated) to upskilltheir existing workforce in order to to fillpromoted positions internally such as the teamleader.

One of the key findings of the wider study wasthat employee participation in a formalprogram acted as the catalyst for the variousinformal training activities that occurred backon the shop floor. Participating in an organizedclass or in a tutorial session heightenedemployee awareness of the importance tolearn. This interplay between formal and infor-mal training was synergetic. Care should betaken not to confuse strategies for ‘getting by’at work with informal learning. Supervisorstaking pre-emptive or circumventing actionover tasks involving literacy skills can create avicious circle of employees’ over-reliance onsupervisors to fill in forms, for example, thusmissing the opportunities for informal“Mentoring and coaching” and reinforcing


underlying skills deficiencies instead of help-ing to solve them.

There was evidence that, in the interplaybetween formal learning and informal learning,both external and internal motivation combinein highly context specific ways. The levellingout of management structures often leads to theexpectation that employees should “take onmore” and “show initiative”.

The example of how this sometimes leads togreater scope for learning about new dutiesthrough on the job experience at work is theUK employee in a food processing plant, whosaw a very direct and tangible link between theformal course and the skills used day to day atwork. The process of a “flattening out” ofmanagement structures meant that she wasincreasingly required to take on more responsi-bility that also entailed increased paperwork.Her case also underlined some of the advan-tages and disadvantages of workplace-basedformal courses: such training offers accessibil-ity but also can potentially be negativelyaffected by pressure from managers and super-visors on employees to miss learning sessionsin order to fulfill their duties in the workplace.This appears to have occurred to severalemployees in this particular organisation.While increasing textualisation of the work-place is often cited as a motivator and stimulusto learning in the workplace, our cases alsoreveal another consequence, where employeeswith poor literacy and numeracy tend to be theones who miss out on the formal trainingopportunites linked to textualisation, thusfalling progressively further behind others inthe workplace and becoming more vulnerableas a consequence. Finding ways to fill the gaps

through more attention to informal learning isonly a partial answer.

Greater day to day job satisfaction was appar-ent in many of the UK employees who hadparticipated in formal workplace courses, andhad developed a greater awareness of the learn-ing potential in their jobs as well as their ownabilities to learn. Longer term follow-up isindicating that without advancement or somekind of external recognition stemming fromthe employee’s engagement with a combina-tion of formal and informal workplace learn-ing, this satisfaction can be eroded over time.

Particular to the UK database, employees’personal and educational backgrounds as wellas skills they had learned from a variety ofexperiences in and out of paid employmentinfluenced the ways in which they carried outtheir duties and responsibilities and dealt withvarious workplace situations. Yet this was not adeterministic process. It was found that formalworkplace programs had the potential tocompensate for previously negative educa-tional experiences and to raise awareness of theopportunities (or ‘affordances’) for furtherlearning through everyday work practices.Formal workplace programs have the potentialto compensate for previously negative educa-tional experiences and to respond to individu-als’ shifting attitudes to learning, with spin-offsfor engagement in informal learning. There is aneed to consider how the wider organizationalenvironment itself needs development if it is tosupport rather than undermine investment inlearning. Workplace learning programs need tobe supported by working environments that are‘expansive’ if they are to be successfullysustained.


Promotion prospects and strategies seem to beimportant in sustaining employee motivation totake up formal courses in the longer term(although there are some notable exceptions tothis among our cases). This is less so forengagement in informal learning, where thefocus is on current job satisfaction.

Worker readiness and motivation to learn canhave many origins. In the context of literacylearning, longitudinal tracking and in-depthinterviews have provided important channelsfor exploring employees’ experience with, andstrategies for, coping with, literacy in the work-place and in their personal lives. These work-ers’ own perceptions of whether they arecoping with their existing levels of skillswithin or outside work challenge straightforward assumptions, underpinning the UKgovernment’s Skills for Life agenda. Theseassumptions are about the existence of large-scale skills deficiencies and their direct impacton productivity with a more nuanced approachthat emphasizes individual strategies forcoping with literacy practices and their ownliteracy needs whilst highlighting those caseswhere skills gaps exist and where employeeshave indeed been positively affected by work-place courses. In all cases, there were signifi-cant gains in abilities for the individual worker,at least initially. The extent to which these weresustained over time and were translated intogains for the employer was much more mixed.There is a need to consider how the wider orga-nizational environment itself needs develop-ment if it is to support rather than undermineinvestment in learning. Workplace learningprograms need to be supported by learning richworking environments and internal rewardsand promotions strategies that support the

engagement of the workers if they are to besuccessfully sustained.

Informal learning that results from “Mentoringand Coaching” as well as participating in“Focused Workplace Discussions” is acomplex process that involves the interplay ofemployee agency, workplace relationships andinterdependencies and the affordances of thewider environment. These variables in somecases promote rich informal learning, forexample where ‘doors are opened’ to opportu-nities to expand and share knowledge andskills in supportive workgroups. In other cases,workplace discussions and mentoring andcoaching can have unintended negative influ-ences on learning, for example where the inter-dependencies of the workplace are underminedby feelings of lack of trust. Socioculturalunderstandings of ways in which knowledgeand learning are constructed from social inter-actions in the workplace (Billett 2006, Tayloret al. 2006) problematise simplistic versions ofself-directed learning and point to reconceptu-alisations that can embrace the interdependen-cies inherent in workplace practices.

The results of the research programme extendexisting frameworks for understanding infor-mal learning. One particular framework thathas already been useful in interpreting some ofour findings is the work of Eraut regarding thefactors that affect workplace learning. Basedon a series of large and small scale projectsinvestigating informal learning in the work-place, Eraut (2004) described the triangularrelationships of learning factors and contextfactors. Of particular interest to this study isthe interplay among confidence, challenge andsupport. Workers in this study clearly stated the


importance of their newly acquired confidencein seeking out informal learning after partici-pating in a formal program.

This confidence may be linked to whatBandura (1998) calls agency. A worker’sagency changes as he or she successfully meetschallenges in everyday work routines thatrequire learning. At the same time, as Billettand Evans et al. have shown, the exercise ofagency personalizes work by changing andshaping work practices. However, this confi-dence to take on new challenges is dependenton the extent to which workers felt supportedin that endeavor. This support is not onlyprovided by a superior but also throughsupportive co-worker relationships that areperceived to be important. As Eraut (2004)points out “if there is neither a challenge norsufficient support to encourage a person toseek out or respond to a challenge, then confi-dence declines and with it the motivation tolearn” (p. 269).

As opposed to identifying productivity gainsrelating to both formal and informal training itmay be more advantageous to better understandemployee job satisfaction and engagement withthe workplace. Eraut’s work has beenconducted primarily with professionals ingraduate occupations. A wider framework forunderstanding the organizational context isprovided by Evans et al. (2006) who argue onthe basis of extended research with employeesranging from basic level workers to graduateapprentices in more than 40 organisations, thatinterventions need to address both employeeand employer interests, recognizing that theseoften represent different rationalities and followa different logic about what matters at work.

The involvement of employee representativescontributes to the expression of employees’interests and can reassure them that gains inproductivity will not have a negative impact onjobs and conditions of employment, where thisis genuinely the case (Rainbird et al. 2003).While learning needs to be seen as an integralpart of practice rather than as a bolt-on, atten-tion needs to be paid to the environment as awhole – for example, the work environment aswell as formal learning affects how far formallearning can be a positive trigger for furtherlearning. A short term time frame and a narrowview of learning, dominated by measurablechanges in performance, will not enhance thelearning environment and can stifle innovation.The concept of a continuum of expansive andrestrictive learning environments can be usedas a tool to analyze and improve opportunitiesfor learning, using a five-stage process (SeeEvans et al. 2006).

Furthermore, Evans et al. (2007) develop thisinto a social ecology of learning. A social ecol-ogy of learning in the field of adult basic skillsleads us to consider the relationships betweenthe affordances of the workplace (or thosefeatures of the workplace environment thatinvite us to engage and learn), the types ofknowledge afforded by essential skills learning(including knowing how and knowing that youcan) and the agency or intention to act of theindividual employee, reflected in their diversemotivations.

These are triangular relationships and mutuallyinterdependent sets of interactions. There areaffordances for learning in all workplace envi-ronments. Some are more accessible and visi-ble than others. The intention of employees to


act in particular ways in pursuit of their goalsand interests, whether in their jobs or personallives, makes the affordances for learning morevisible to them. The know-how associated withliteracy practices such as report writing or find-ing better ways of expressing oneself, and theconfidence of ‘knowing that you can’ oftendevelop as the person engages with the oppor-tunity. The process of making the affordancesfor learning more visible itself can generatesome employees’ will to act on and use thoseaffordances, and new knowledge and ways ofworking result. In the shifting attitudes tolearning, the changing levels of know-how andthe confidence that comes from ‘knowing thatyou can’ both stimulate action and the seekingout of affordances within and beyond theworkplace in the form of further opportunities.

In the UK, the evidence to date suggestsconsiderable diversity reflective of thecomplexities of the workplace context, varia-tions in the quality of working environmentsand the differential positions of employeeswithin workplace hierarchies. From a qualita-tive point of view this study of basic levelemployees provides some partial insights intothese questions. More fundamentally, from atheoretical standpoint, reflexive and interde-pendent understandings of self directed learn-ing, going beyond simplistic versions thatemphasise independent mastery of work tasks,are needed to make sense of the ways in whichemployees engage in and shape everydayworkplace learning.

References

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Evans, K., Hodinson, P., Rainbird, H. andUnwin, L. (2006). Improving workplace learn-ing. London and New York: Routledge.

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